1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data recording/reproducing system, and more particularly to a system including an optical disk apparatus, which has a normal state which is a normal operational state and a sleep state which is a power saving state.
2. Description of Related Art
Many computer systems and DVD recorder systems including an optical disk apparatus (an optical disk drive) such as a CD drive and a DVD drive have been developed. For such systems, it is desirable that video and audio data can be recorded in a simple manner whenever desired by a user.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-132954 describes a technology in a system concerning video cassette recorders (VCRs). Specifically, in the described technology, a VCR is connected to a set top box (STB), and on turning the STB ON at a time point which has been preset in a timer, levels of a synchronization signal, a video signal, and an audio signal exceed a predetermined value, which triggers video recording by the video tape recorder.
However, with the above technology, in order to start video recording, the system is controlled to remain in a REC PAUSE state in which recording can be started any time, which is undesirable from a viewpoint of power saving. Further, as opposed to video tape recorders, optical disk apparatuses such as a DVD recorder can adopt various types of media, for which different recoding conditions for data recording are employed. Accordingly, there is a possibility that data cannot be recorded on a medium appropriately in a system in which recording is started merely by using input of a video signal and an audio signal as a trigger as described above.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-3233 describes that in a laptop PC equipped with a DVD drive, a computer system is returned from a sleep state to an operation state in response to a wakeup signal which is generated from the drive device on inserting a medium thereinto and a process for reproducing the medium is started in response to the return of the computer system to the operation state. The controller, upon detecting a wakeup signal while the PC is in a stop or sleep state, provides a power source ON request to a power source controller to return the computer system from the stop or sleep state to the operation state.
With this system, however, in order to notify the controller of the fact that a medium is inserted into the DVD drive, it is necessary to connect the DVD drive and the controller via an additional signal line, which results in a more complicated system structure. Alternatively, a notification from the DVD drive that a recordable medium is inserted may be processed by a CPU, with the CPU remaining in somewhat of active condition even during the sleep state. This structure, however, results in the CPU consuming a great amount of power, and is therefore undesirable from the perspective of reducing power consumption.
In addition, while in the above technology, the system recovers from the sleep state to the normal operation state by means of insertion of a recording medium, it is preferable to achieve the recovery from the sleep state also by operation of the operation switch, such as operation of a PLAY key or an EJECT key, for example. In particular, it is desirable to allow the recovery from the sleep state and also immediate start of recording only by operation of a recording (REC) key.